Let T be an order bounded disjointness preserving operator on an Archimedean vector lattice. The main result in this paper shows that T is algebraic if and only if there exist natural numbers m and n such that n ≥ m, and Tn!, when restricted to the vector sublattice generated by the range of Tm, is an algebraic orthomorphism. Moreover, n (respectively, m) can be chosen as the degree (respectively, the multiplicity of 0 as a root) of the minimal polynomial of T. In the process of proving this result, we define strongly diagonal operators and study algebraic order bounded disjointness preserving operators and locally algebraic orthomorphisms. In addition, we introduce a type of completeness on Archimedean vector lattices that is necessary and sufficient for locally algebraic orthomorphisms to coincide with algebraic orthomorphisms.